Mother fires shots after three teens break into her Detroit house

Feb. 19, 2014

Written by

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

A mother of two fired shots after three teens broke into her Detroit house Monday, police said today.

Now two of the teens are facing home invasion charges, Detroit police spokesman Sgt. Michael Woody said.

He said the woman was upstairs with her young children at 7:30 p.m. Monday when she heard a thud, which she recognized as someone trying to break in through the back door of her home on the 7400 block of Woodrow Wilson. Woody said the woman grabbed a rifle out of the closet, went down the stairs, saw the teens — 14-year-old twin brothers and a 15 year old — coming into her home and said: “I have a gun.”

He said the teens ran out of the back door, two went left and a third dropped what turned out to be a fake gun. That teen picked up the faux gun, yelled to the others that he told them the woman wasn’t armed and started heading back toward the house, but took off running after the woman fired a shot, Woody said.

He said the woman fired multiple rounds as the teen ran away.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said the shots did not strike anyone.

“I believe she did the right thing,” he said. Craig has said he believes legal gun owners can deter crime.

Woody said one of the teens is also facing a weapons charge and one is not facing any charges.

He said that before the break in, which was caught on surveillance camera, the teens cased the house for more than 20 minutes. Woody said they were in the back yard and tried to get into the garage.